i am here. i have been behind the scenes in the voting process and talking to voters. and it is going to be a close one. both sides energized. and they know the spotlight is on them. the world will be watching ohio. i'm don lemon, thank you for joining us. now to "the situation room" with those new polls and mr. wolf blitzer. don, thanks very much. happening now, wrenching new stories of survival and heartbreak on staten island. we're going to meet a man whose business was looted after he lost much of his home. also, the growing fuel shortage in the disaster zone. gas lines in some areas now stretch for miles. and as don mentioned, new poll numbers are just coming into "the situation room" from the state that could decide who the next president will be. we're talking about ohio. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room."

but we begin with the destruction from sandy. homes and livelihoods destroyed. now lying in piles of rubble that stretch for miles across the new york city borough of staten island. cleanup is underway. and with every new layer of debris that's removed, the tragic stories emerge of the residents whose lives have been turned upside down. cnn's brian todd is on the scene for us. brian, what are you seeing on staten island right now? >> reporter: well, wolf, at just about every house you go to in the section of staten island you hear horrific and pretty detailed stories of just how bad the storm was. here's the story of one man who took a few hits. if you can't imagine what it's like to suffer through a massive storm, listen to nick. >> the water was so high. it was up to this part of the door. i couldn't get into the door. i went around the side of the

house. and i stood on a box that was floating. and i went through the window to get back in the house with my family. >> reporter: taking us through his house on staten island, the retired ups truck driver says he and his family scrambled to an upper floor away from water he was sure was going to keep rising. his wife and four sons survived. just about all of their first floor didn't. then just as nick and his family were recovering from the shell shock and flooding and trying to assess all of this damage, he took another body blow. he leads us to his side yard where he set up a small engine repair business and a trailer full of tools he'd need for his new profession. >> last night they were banging on doors. anybody home. if you're not home -- if we don't get a response from you, we're going to break your door down just to see if you're okay. they were all looters. i yelled out my window on a few occasions until i was exhausted tired. i wake up this morning, push my shed open and went through all

my tools. i got nothing. every tool that was hanging that was worth anything, all my air tools, there's nothing in the drawers but hand prints. >> reporter: could these have been people who you knew, nick? >> it's sad to say the neighborhood. >> reporter: so you knew them? >> yeah. i knew one of them. >> reporter: he owns a house next door that was ruined by the flood. the tenant says she lost another home to a fire two years ago. >> what did i do to take a house from me twice? >> reporter: a tenant, an owner, his family left with so very little except. >> my kids are alive. my wife is alive. we can move on. >> reporter: nick says he came up with a slogan for his new business. it says when you're engine's sick, call dr. nick.

but he's not dr. nick for a while. >> what's he going to do now? >> he says he's going to try to get a job as a handyman in the neighborhood helping people with home repairs. but he's got one son in college, another son applying to college. going to be pretty tough going for him for a while. >> brian todd, a lot of stories like that unfortunately. the president is not speaking of the aftermath of the storm. he's in ohio. >> no matter how tough times may get, we always bounce back. we're all in this together as one nation and as one people. that theory has guided this country along for its improbable journey for more than two centuries. and it's what's carried us through the trials and tribulations of the last four years. remember in 2008 we were in the middle of two wars and the worst economic crisis since the great depression. today, our businesses have created nearly 5.5 million new

jobs. and this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in october than in any time in the last eight months. [ cheers and applause ] home values are on the rise. housing construction is moving up. we're less dependent on foreign oil than at any time in the last 20 years. because of the service and sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, the war in iraq is over, the war in afghanistan is coming to a close. al qaeda's been decimated. and osama bin laden is dead. [ cheers and applause ] oh. oh. oh. and one more thing. american auto industry that had been written off is back on top

of the world. [ cheers and applause ] so we've made real progress these last four years. but, ohio, we're here because we know we've got more work to do. as long as there is a single american who wants a job and can't find one, as long as there are families who are working harder and harder but falling behind, as long as there's a child somewhere in lima or anywhere in ohio or in the country languishes in poverty and barred from opportunity, then our fight goes on. our work is not yet done. >> all right. so the president getting into his stump speech now after saying a few words about what was going on in the aftermath of the superstorm sandy. we're going to continue to monitor what the president has to say. we'll bring you more of that. we also have some brand new poll numbers just in from the critical battleground state of ohio.

you see the president in lima, ohio, right now. our brand new cnn/orc poll shows president obama with a narrow lead in that state 50% to mitt romney's 47%. that's within the sampling error making it still effectively a dead heat. our chief national correspondent john king is joining us right now. he's in ohio as well. john, take us inside these numbers. >> wolf, they are fascinating when you look deep in this poll. the president you just showed he's here in ohio. governor romney will be here tontd. they expect some 35,000 republicans at his rally. in this part of the state i'm in cincinnati tonight. when you look deep in our poll you see this one will be fought out through the last poll closing on election night. look at these two candidates among independents. governor romney with a slight edge 48% to 46%. again, that's a statistical tie well within the margin of error. the auto bailout is one of the things the president thinks will help him here in ohio. you heard him mention that in this speech. look at this in the industrial northern part of the state, across northern ohio where you have many auto-related direct

factory plants, the president leads 52% to 45%. some evidence there especially among white blue collar workers the president is doing better than he might have done otherwise without the auto bailout. what was fascinating four years ago when you visited where i am, you knew at this time the race was over because the president then-senator obama was doing so well here. look at our poll numbers here from cincinnati and the southwest part of the state. governor romney ahead 52% to 47% in a region that is absolutely essential to republicans if they are to win a close statewide election here. we visited both campaign headquarters today in the cincinnati area. everyone concedes it is about as tight as it can get. the democrats say it's much tougher, much tighter than it was four years ago. the question though, wolf, is we have that slight lead, yes, within the margin of error. but the president has had a consistent two or three-point lead in just about every ohio poll conducted in recent months. the romney campaign is telling us it believes it can overcome that on election day with more

intensity and more energy from the republican base. we'll see. as you know, wolf, no republican has ever won without this state. the romney campaign concedes it very much needs it. >> there's been a lot of speculation on the provisional ballots available in ohio that that could delay the outcome in that state. what's the latest you're getting on that? >> reporter: there is a possibility. this is a state where you have early voting. and you also have other provisional ballots. ballots that are contested. some will be set aside and disputed. look, let's hope with citizens that doesn't happen. but this state and other states are very close that both campaigns have teams of lawyers not only will be here on election day to watch, they have observers, but teams of lawyers ready to be in place so close would there be an automatic recount triggered. that is a possibility as we head into the final days and final weekend, wolf. not only the candidates out and busy, their legal teams are very busy studying all the rules as

well. >> the lawyers are very, very active right now. let's see what happens. john, you'll be back later. thank you. the most anticipated jobs report of the year is now out coming four days before the election. the labor department reports hiring in october was stronger than expected with 171,000 new jobs added. the unemployment rate however ticked up .1% to 7.9%. let's talk about what this means politically with our chief political analyst gloria borger. gloria, you see these numbers having a significant impact these final four days? >> not really. at this point because of what you said. you saw the unemployment rate tick up a little bit. so mitt romney can talk about how unemployment has ticked up. you saw job growth a little stronger than anticipated. so the president can say, you know what, this is a sustained recovery. it's not fast enough. but it's not -- that's just what you heard from the president in

the campaign speech you just played a little bit of before because he talks about the fact that since he's been president he's created nearly 5.5 million jobs. so it really hasn't changed the calculation one way or another. by the way, wolf, in a lot of these states including the one john king is in, ohio, there's been a lot of early voting. so it's too late anyway. >> the economy has issued -- number one, i want to alert our viewers, janet napolitano has been in staten island touring that devastated area. here she is right now. let's listen in. >> we know that staten island took a particularly hard hit from sandy. and so we want to make sure that the right resources are brought here as quickly as possible to help this community which is so very strong recover even more quickly. just to give you a sense of an overview, it's been mentioned that this was a large storm.

the area that sandy covered was roughly the size of europe. we had major disasters in a number of states that president obama already has declared emergency declarations in a number of states that have been declared. we have seen some huge impacts on things like the availability of power. and with of course the loss of power comes attendant losses on things like gasoline. so all of these things, all of these issues being worked now as the community comes back and as we work to support con ed and other utility companies in getting the grid back on. we have over 75,000 survivors in new york and new jersey who now have applied for disaster assistance already. almost $15 million is already on the street. this is assistance directly to

individuals. that spigot is going well. we have what are called disaster recovery centers. kind of a one-stop-shop. it's where you can go and get the information about what assistance you can get, what the housing situation is, how you handle unemployment, if you need help with your kids in school, all the kind of associated issues that happen during a major disaster. but we have five open today in new york. one in connecticut. even more will be opening over the weekend and by monday. as of yesterday, more tn 7.1 million liters of water and 1.6 million meals were positioned to be delivered into new york. more than 1.6 million liters of water and a million meals have been transferred to other states to supplement their existing

inventory. we've established a base at the floyd bennett field here in new york. that's where we're bringing all the food and water. that's where the national guard picks it up and takes it out to the delivery centers around the boroughs. 657 housing inspectors are already on the ground here helping individuals look at their houses, make a decision as to whether the house has any possibility of being restored or whether it's a total loss. we have 3,200 fema personnel working this storm in the northeast. and more are on their way. 11,800 national guard already are deployed in the impacted states. and we expect more to come. as was mentioned, 258 red cross shelters have opened. nine federal search and rescue teams have been deployed, supplementing state and local efforts.

and they have searched more than 3,300 structures in queens and 870 structures here in staten island. with respect to other assets that are coming in, we all know that power remains the fundamental issue. you should know that president obama has said that all of the federal government is here to help. and that means the department of defense. and the department of defense yesterday was air lifting utility crews with their equipment here to new york, to new jersey and other places impacted by the storm. and more of those air lifts we anticipate to be coming over the coming days. there's an 800 number people can call. 1-800-621-3362. 1-800-621-3362. you can go to disast

disasterassistance.gov. or indeed if you go to a disaster recovery center, all of the information you need to find out about the assistance you are entitled to can be found. and as was mentioned, people are now going door to door. one of my concerns -- i think all of our concerns is as the temperature drops with power still out in many neighborhoods, making sure that everybody is safe and if they need to get to a warm place that we're able to do that. so a lot of work ongoing. a lot more left to do. but the food, the water, all the assets coming into this area of the country, coming into new york. governor cuomo's been a great advocate. and coming into the borough of staten island. thank you. >> all right. we're going to continue to

monitor janet napolitano, the secretary of homeland security. she's been touring the situation in staten island. you see the president of the borough of staten island right behind her. we're going to be speaking with janet napolitano later. we're also going to be speaking live with the president of the manhattan borough. there's lots going on including a huge debate in new york city right now over whether or not that marathon should take place this weekend as scheduled. lots to talk about. what's going on in lower manhattan specifically when we come back. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ female announcer ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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manhattan alone, are still without power. has that number changed? >> that's an accurate number. we're hoping that some time tonight the switch will go on and much of lower manhattan will then have kind of some electricity. which would go a long way in alleviating some of the problems we're facing in lower manhattan. make no mistake, it's still a dire situation. we have people with no elevator service, no heat and hot water, getting colder in the city. and the challenges of lower manhattan are really the same as what you're seeing in staten island and breezy point and the rockaways. we see problems in brooklyn as well. so we are in a very serious situation riegtd now. hopefully it will get better over time. mayor bloomberg and governor cuomo have done an amazing job coordinating all of us to focus on relief. i think that's going very well. but we have a lot more to do. >> below 34th street still is in the dark for all practical purposes, no power, no electricity. but you say the switch will go on for almost all of them or for a chunk of that area?

>> well, that's still to be determined. i'm hoping that it will be a large chunk. we won't know for sure until the switch goes on. we're hoping that will happen later this evening or maybe much later. but that will not solve the whole problem, obviously. we still have buildings that are flooded. so when the switch goes on, the lights won't go on in those buildings. we're still trying to deal with some of our new york city public housing buildings that have had some real issues. this is a good step, but we have many, many steps in this process. >> when do you expect full service to be restored to the subway? >> well, i got to tell you, our subway system, joe lohta who's really been on top of this, the bus service is running. it's coming online piecemeal. every day it gets a little better. but we're still going to have a lot to do here. we still have flooded areas. governor cuomo has done amazing work getting the tunnels pumped out. we were on a conference call elected officials with president obama and governor cuomo last night going over a lot of the

issues especially the housing issues that people will face. we've been in constant contact with the mayor's office. bottom line here is everybody's moving to get things done. but the challenges are so enormous, it's unlike anything i've ever seen as manhattan borough president as a public official for 20 years. >> we're showing our viewers unbelievably long lines, people waiting two or three or four hours just to get on a bus. how much longer can a situation like that continue? >> well, that's by the way another issue that i think is getting worse by the day. cabs are running out of gas. and that's a transportation opportunity for people. i haven't seen lines like this since the 1970s energy crisis. you know, jimmy carter in 1980 where you just had lines down the block of cars. we're back to that. again, that's also going to slow us in terms of getting people out of this situation. >> you know, there's a lot of uproar over whether or not the marathon this weekend in new york city should take place. you saw the front page of the

"new york post" today. these massive generators are supplying electricity to the tent in central park that's in manhattan while new yorkers suffer. the mayor, mayor bloomberg, he defended the decision to let the marathon go forward. i'll play a couple of excerpts of what he said. >> it doesn't use resources that can really make a difference in recovery. and that sort of thing. it's a different group of people. there will be no diversion of resources. there will be no redistribution of our efforts. no dem ewe in addition of our efforts. >> so you believe the mayor? >> i think the mayor wants very much to show the world how resilient new yorkers are. obviously a marathon is a great tradition of new york. there's another tradition that i think we have to consider. and that is new yorkers helping new yorkers. i can't help but think that a generator that's now in central

park heating the media tent would be better served in staten island or parts of queens or lower manhattan. we to have very limited resources. i do respect the mayor's efforts on recovery. how can you argue with someone very successful with the police commissioner standing behind him. knows how to get things done. on a close judgment call i ere on the side of caution. i've seen too many people waiting for food or worried about relatives in buildings on the 20th floor and no one can seem to get to them. i'm worried about our fellow new yorkers in the rockaways who have been devastated. people are homeless. and the fact that their homes may not be rebuilt for a year is also troubling. i think we have to take every asset we have and focus it on the people in new york. and then we'll have a marathon. we'll postpone it and have the greatest marathon the world will i think respect us for it. but i understand the mayor is grappling with this. we'll see what the end result is

of the final, final decision will be. >> you think it's still possible they might at least postpone it to a more appropriate time at least when people's lives aren't getting relatively back to normal that might be the right thing to do? >> i have a hunch this might not be a final decision on this. this is a tough call by the mayor because you don't want to cancel a world event, but you have to be mindful as you showed on your tv screen, cnn showed, there are people who are suffering in ways that we can't imagine. we want very much to help our people first. >> have you told the mayor how you feel? that you think it would be appropriate to postpone? >> listen, we've been in contact with city hall almost every day on recovery efforts. they've been very responsive to communities. and this is part of the conversation that we're having. >> so you're still discussing it with them. but you want it to be postponed. >> i would like to see it

postponed. i was convinced when i was going around the lower east side and watching people wait for hours for food. and i got to tell you, wolf, you know what they asked me? they asked me about food. they asked me about shelter. the children were shivering. but they really said to me, when are we going to be able to go back into our homes with electricity? and the other thing people ask me, are we going to be able to vote on tuesday? i could not believe people who are basically having no resources came up to me, are we going to vote on tuesday? is there going to be an election? and that's the best kind of democracy. and that's the new york attitude. people put up with so much. they deal with adversitadversit. and they want to vote on tuesday. i think that's the greatest point about our democracy. so let's not have a marathon. because no one asked about that. let's get the vote done. let's help people recover. and then we'll throw a marathon party the world will be envious of. >> so bottom line, will they be able to vote? will all those precincts have power? will they be able to register

and let people vote? >> i believe we're going to get that done. we're going to have an election. and there's going to be huge turnout in new york. new yorkers, you know, we bring it on. we can deal with adversity. think about 9/11. think about all this city has gone through. and we're still the biggest, greatest city in the world. everybody knows that. everybody respects us. that's why the mayor wants to have the marathon. because we do the big things. i just think in a close call we ere on the side of caution. go to staten island, go to the rockaways, brooklyn, take those resources, take the generator out of central park and put it where it can do good for people who need it the most. >> scott stringer is the borough president of manhattan. he's got a huge job ahead of him. good luck to you. good luck to everyone in new york. >> thank you. we'll be watching tuesday night. >> thank you very much. when we come back, janet napolitano, the homeland security secretary, she's going to join us live. we've got a lot of questions for her right after this. [ female announcer ] want to spend less and retire with more?

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going to speak shortly to the homeland security secretary janet napolitano. she's just toured staten island. we'll get some questions to her. standby for that live interview. meanwhile, many victims of the superstorm have had to rely on gas generators for power. and that's only one of the problems out there. it's so hard to find gas right now in the area devastated by the storm. no gas means no electricity and no way to fuel cars or buses. our national correspondent susan candiotti waited in line at one gas station. >> reporter: wolf, we are in hashburg heights, new jersey, on the outskirts of new york city, where they have lines here stretching for almost a mile at 6:00 in the morning. and finally by mid-afternoon they ran out of gas. and we are here with the last person who was able to get her gas can filled up. it doesn't look like you got

much. >> i didn't get much. no, i didn't. >> reporter: how long did you have to wait to get this one? >> two hours. i had to park my car because i didn't have enough gas to wait on the line. and i was the last person who was able to get gas. thankfully. >> reporter: this must be so hard to wait so long for so little. what are you going to do now? >> i'm going to go home and wait it out. now i'm just going to head home and wait it out. >> reporter: do you have power? >> yes. but no hot water. >> reporter: no hot water. >> no. >> reporter: how are you keeping your spirits up? >> just hoping for, i don't know, it to be over by the weekend. monday i'm hoping it will be better for me to return back to work. i can't stay home anymore. i'm ready to go back to work. >> reporter: sure. thank you very much. we wish you well. that's the thing, no one really knows how long it will take to get the fuel and supplies running more quickly, more evenly. but for the people who were in line and got to the front of the line and found out, huh-uh, nothing's left, what do they do next? wolf, they just keep on driving, often for miles and miles and

miles past a lot of stations before they find what they're looking for. a gas station that's open and has enough fuel to satisfy everyone's needs. >> yeah. >> reporter: wolf, back to you. >> susan candiotti, thanks very much. they need the fuel, they need electrici electricity, they need the power to get the fuel into the cars as well. all right, we have a lot more coming up. we're about to speak with janet napolitano, the homeland security secretary. she has just toured staten island. you saw some of her news conference a little while ago. we've got some good questions for her. standby, much more of our coverage right after this. i gave birth to my daughter on may 18th,

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the homeland security

secretary janet napolitano, is seeing the devastation for herself on this day. she's been touring the hard-hit staten island area. she's now joining us live. madame secretary, thanks very much for coming in. >> you bet. >> you know, the devastation has really been eye opening to a lot of us. and you just toured staten island with the borough preside president. he told us this yesterday, i'm going to play a little clip and i want to know if you've responded to what he said. listen to this. >> there was no answers for these people. some of these people that came into shelters, their homes have been destroyed the night before. they have no place to go. i need answers. >> he was speaking to anderson cooper. did you give him answers today what was going on? >> yeah, i think so. and we have brought terrific resources to bear here in staten

island from fema volunteers to the red cross, shelters are open, food and water's being distributed. we're already getting money out to individuals to help them with temporary housing. you know, we are providing as much information as we can. we literally have people now in the shelters going person to person answering their questions. and we'll be opening up several more centers throughout staten island where people can go and find out all of the benefits to which they are entitled. so the borough president and i had a great meeting today. we met with some of the other leadership of the borough. i think things are in sync moving forward. it's a tough situation. it's going to be tough until power is restored and gasoline becomes available. those two things are related. it's going to be a cold weekend. but nobody should be lacking for shelter. nobody should be loacking for

food and water and the necessities of life as we work through the power situation. that's what's on our mind. it's life safety. it's public safety. and recovery. >> there was a lot of warning about this storm. and there are some complaints that there was not enough stuff, if you will, generators, water, food, shelter, prepositioned on staten island in advance. did you have the proper material, the proper shelters, whatever, prepositioned ready to go? >> oh, yes. preposition, you have to remember we didn't quite know where this storm was going to hit. and you don't want to preposition in an area that's going to be hit by the storm. so we picked an area right outside the likely storm zone and have been moving all of that material, the food and the water, into the effected area immediately so that for example into the manhattan, staten island, new york city area, a million meals, more than a million liters of water.

and that's going to keep coming. that's going to be a steady flow. and in addition of course we work with our partners in the red cross and with the national guard on distribution. so we were very well prepositioned. >> but the stuff is only beginning to arrive today. is that right? >> no. no, no. no. stuff began arriving on tuesday. but all of the centers and the places of distribution were not established right away. those took a little time to get up and running. but they're up and running now. and even more are coming. so now we're in the process of working our way through the storm. you know, president obama said whatever resource we can give and put into this cause, we are to do so and to lean forward. and that's exactly what we're trying to do. >> i want to bring into this conversation if you don't mind, madame secretary, the borough president of manhattan, scott stringer. he's got a disaster on his hands below 34th street in lower

manhattan right now. >> right. >> you have an opportunity right now, mr. stringer, to speak to the secretary of homeland security. she oversees fema, the federal emergency management agency. do you believe, mr. springer, that the stuff you need -- you painted a pretty horrific picture of what's going on right now without power, without electricity, without gasoline in lower manhattan, do you believe that the material is on the way right now? has it arrived? >> well, we are seeing the role of the federal government in action. as i mentioned earlier on this show, i was on a call with governor cuomo, president obama and local elected officials. and the president as the secretary said, said we're going to bring the full strength of the federal government to help in this. we see that already. there is a great collaboration between the governor, the president, the secretary and mayor bloomberg and all of us to try to get resources in. nothing i've learned in life runs totally smoothly. but when you have a commitment of resources, when you see the

national guard with hot meals banging on doors beginning that process in earnest, i think it bodes well for the future of our city. we just need to work real hard because as i mentioned earlier, yes, we are in a dire situation. hopefully the lights will go on in a lot of manhattan tonight. but even beyond that we're going to have to work very hard. but we have a partner in the federal government. barack obama has made it very clear that this city is going to get his attention. the fact that the secretary is in staten island, was in manhattan with the governor the other day working with congress people, they are everywhere we need them to be. >> you want to say anything to the president of the borough of manhattan, madame secretary? what's on the way, what the folks in manhattan can expect in the days to come. >> well, i think the number one thing is power in lower manhattan. and associated with that is getting the tunnels pumped out so that they can be used again.

so the army corps of engineers has been moving in lots of pumps to help with that. i think the brooklyn battery tunnel was being pumped out as we speak. that has 43 million gallons of water in it and the tunnel's over a mile long. these are huge pumping process. but con ed told us today they thought they'd have power on for lower manhattan by tomorrow morning. and i think, mr. president, you would agree with me that will be a great relief when those lights go back on. >> one final question and i know you have to go, madame secretary. if you want to weigh-in on this dispute in new york city whether the marathon should take place this weekend. the mayor, mayor bloomberg says yes. the borough president, mr. stringer, says no. what do you think? is it appropriate to have a marathon like that under these circumstances? >> look, that is a decision for the local authorities to make. we will work through whatever it is we have to work through to get life necessities out there,

food, water, shelter, work and getting power restored, work with utilities, getting gasoline available. that's going to be my focus for the next 72 hours. >> madame secretary, good luck. thanks so much for joining us. >> you bet. thank you. >> she's got to go. mr. stringer, a quick final question for you. are you reassured that help is on the way? what can you tell the folks in lower manhattan right now that things are going to be fine? >> look, it's very helpful that the secretary is in our city. the president is talking constantly to the governor. we have to coordinate well. and i do think it's going to be tough. i think it's going to be tough in lower manhattan. it's going to be tough around the city. people are having real hardship. but i think if we allocate resources in an intelligent way, if we understand what's ahead of us, we'll get through this. new york always rises to the occasion. and our people understand that we have to make this work and we have to help each other.

neighbor to neighbor, that's how we've always done it. >> scott stringer, once again, thanks very much. good luck to you. >> thank you. >> good luck to everyone in new york and new jersey and connecticut and in the area that's been devastated. we're going to continue our breaking news coverage what's going on there. lots of political news. only four days left before the election. much more coming up right after this. how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. 100% new. 100% mmm... wow, that is mmm... it's so mmm you might not believe it's a hundred calories. new yoplait greek 100.

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as you saw here earlier this hour president obama's in ohio right now. not only touting the new jobs report that came out today, but also accusing mitt romney of trying to scare people with a very controversial campaign ad. chief white house correspondent jessica yellin reports. >> reporter: in ohio the president saw the bright side of

the new jobs numbers. >> this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in october than at any time in the last eight months. the american auto industry is back on top. >> reporter: notice that pivot? the president turned quickly from jobs numbers to the auto industry. >> we've been seeing this out of governor romney and his friends over the last few weeks. >> reporter: no mention of government job losses or an unemployment rate uptick to 7.9%, but lots of time on a fight over the auto bailout and an ad from the romney campaign. >> and you can't try to scare people. this is not a game. these are people's jobs. these are people's lives. >> reporter: he's talking about this. >> obama took gm into bankruptcy and sold chrysler to italian who is are going to build jeeps in china. >> of course it turns out it's not true.

the company ceo told governor romney himself knock it off. >> reporter: the squabble over that spot has made headlines here in ohio, the obama campaign hit back on air. >> politics at its cynical worst. >> reporter: on a stump the president is casting it as part of a larger message. >> massaging the facts when they're inconvenient to your campaign, that's definitely not change. that's the oldest trick in the book. yeah. that's what governor romney's been doing these last few weeks. and i know what real change looks like because i've fought for it. right along side you. and after all we've been through together, we sure can't give up now. >> report from cnn's jessica yellin. she's with the president in lima, ohio, right now. we'll speak with her later. we have reporters all over the country right now getting ready for tuesday's election. they're in all the key battleground states. much more coming up from all of

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new york's mayor michael

bloomberg is fending off criticism to go ahead with sunday's marathon. he spoke to supporters and made it clear that the race isn't taking anything away from the city's response to the disaster. here's what he said. >> i don't think there's any question but we have new yorkers who have lost loved ones and nothing's ever going to replace that. people have lost their homes. we have to make sure that we do everything we can to help them recover. we have to work around the clock for people to get through this thing. and i assure you we're doing that. if i thought it took any resources away from that, we would not do this. but we have plenty of police officers that work in areas that aren't affected. we don't take all of them and move them into areas that are affected. there will be no diversion of resources. there will be no redistribution of our efforts. no demolition of our efforts. we have a 24/7 operation going. which i'm confident we're going to do. we have to do everything we can to help people. and when power returns over the

next day and mass transit, more people are able to go to their homes. that's going to make a big difference. >> on the other side, you just heard the borough president of manhattan, scott stringer, tell us he disagrees with the mayor. he thinks that the marathon should be postponed. our own deborah feyerick is on staten island. she's talking to residents. they are outraged at mayor bloomberg and the decision to let this marathon go forward, if it does. [ woman ] it's 32 minutes to go time,

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so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, outage boils over with thousands of runners about to converge on new york's devastated staten island to kickoff the city's legendary marathon. plus, cnn's with national guard

troops as they search homes in one storm-ravaged area not accessible until now. and will sandy throw a rench in the presidential election now just four days away? ahead, the challenges voters could face in states hardest hit by the storm. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." the numbers continue to go up. 97 people here in the united states now confirmed dead in superstorm sandy's wake. at least 165 internationally. and on new york's staten island, which is bearing the brunt of the storm's wrath, the outrage is only intensifying after days of desperate pleas for help, the federal government is moving in. president obama deploying his

homeland security secretary janet napolitano and fema deputy to the region for support. all this two days ahead of the legendary new york city marathon. thousands of runners and race officials are set to flock to the devastated borough of staten island to kick off the event. our brian todd is standing by right now on staten island with the latest on the devastation. brian. >> reporter: wolf, there's been significant change in the amount of relief coming into staten island today. certainly a greater amount of relief than there was yesterday when people were just so angry and vehement to their complaint. this is the red cross and fema center where they're distributing food and some clothing. i can tell you there's one problem with this. the neighborhood that was most effected by this, at least the one in this immediate area, starts about 600 yards to my left. it goes in about another mile,

maybe two miles from there. those people have no tv, no internet, no phone, very little cell phone service. i would venture to believe that maybe a lot of them don't even know this is here. a lot of them are asking for help, asking for goods and food and hot water to be brought in. and a lot of them i don't believe know that this place is even here. so getting communication to them is going to be key. i'm not sure if that is really up to speed yet. what is getting to them is food and clothing brought by neighbors, everyday citizens just setting up grills to grill hamburgers and hot dogs. stations for people to pick up extra used clothing. that's all being brought in by local residents. we have seen virtually none of this material getting to them as far as being transported to them. i think maybe getting the word to the people in this neighborhood that this station is here is still a challenge here, wolf. >> when do they think power will be restored on staten island?

>> reporter: that's a very good question, wolf. we're not getting too many estimates. i can tell you i've been here for two days in this neighborhood. about three hours ago is the first time i saw a power truck. and it was one. and there was i'd say several square miles of neighborhood, let's say, to boot up. if i had to venture a guess, i would say several more days. >> brian todd on the scene for us doing an excellent job as he always does. meanwhile, on new jersey's long island beach, look at this. amounts of sand literally up against the sides of the road like snow almost. efforts are underway to get it back on the beach where it belongs where many homes are seemingly beyond repair. here's mike galanos with our cnn sister network hln. >> reporter: here we have incredible access on long beach island, one of the barrier islands on the jersey shore smacked by hurricane sandy. over my shoulder there you see the atlantic ocean so pristine. right here, this is a nylon

tubing built years ago stuffed with sand meant to withstand storms like sandy. obviously no match. you can see in the distance that balcony on that house ready to just tumble down. you can see how high the water level. how about this house right here? this is the design a house built on stilts like this. below is a break away wall. that's the way it's meant to happen. but then you look at this house here. not built on stilts. just a straight slab. and let's go inside or get a little bit closer. look at the damage. no match for sandy. and the waves of the atlantic ocean just pounding away. even take a look inside there when you talk about real life damage. that is a kid's bunk bed crumbled, a room crumbled. think of that. at one point a family slept there. you can see bikes. just the things we use to live shattered, shattered. one last thing is obviously the rebuilding process when you take a look here, all the sand -- and you can see the truck in the distance trying to take the sand

that is pushed deep into neighborhoods and bring it back to where it belongs on the beach. i'm mike galanos, back to you. >> thanks very much. let's get back to the outrage over sunday's new york city marathon right now. the manhattan borough president told me just a little while ago he thinks the marathon should be postponed. and that's exactly what residents on staten island think as well. our national correspondent deborah feyerick is on staten island. she's getting reaction from storm victims. what are they saying, deb? >> reporter: well, you know, here are a couple choice words. they're using disgraceful, disgusting, slap in the face and outrage. and those are the gentler words being used. we want to tell you, wolf, according to a new york official, talks have been going on all afternoon as to whether in fact the marathon should take place. you have to understand the way the people out here see it is, for example, the marathon's on a bridge, the big bridge where the race starts, that's going to have to be closed down. that means no first responders,

no way to get supplies in and out unless you go through new jersey. that's the first problem they're having. the parking lots that are going to be used to bus in all these runners, those are parking lots that residents are saying, look, we need help. we need people to come. put volunteers on those buses. bring them in. forget about the runners. we spoke to a couple of people. here's what they had to say. >> we need our bridge open so that we can get resources here. that bridge is going to be closed all day on sunday both ways. how can people do that to us? >> there's people that don't even have homes right now. they don't have nothing to eat. nothing to sleep in. they're living in shelters and you're worried about a marathon. >> they're going to be taking off a hundred yards away from where two kids died. how stupid can that be? >> you know, what's incredible, wolf, as you drive along these neighborhoods that have been hit so hard, what you see is you see mountains of personal belongings that have been completely trashed that are piled outside in front of the homes. and the folks that we kept

speaking to, they said what they need is they need more hands. they don't feel like there's been a great response in terms of helping in the cleanup. it's a question, wolf, that i actually asked secretary napolitano when she was here. why aren't there any generators, any chain saws, the water purification, cleaning supplies people so desperately need? her answer was that those are going right now to nursing homes, they're prioritizing that. wolf, as far as this marathon goes, the people here in staten island, they are completely outraged. they feel that help came too late. that there's not been enough of it. you see a lot of the activity behind me. but this is all relatively new. this didn't get here until really the last 24 hours. so the fact that anyone can stage a marathon in this city given this scope of this tragedy, even after 9/11 they postponed the world series. just wait. that is what they're saying. for it to happen, really, it's going to cause a lot of bad blood. wolf. >> as you know, new york mayor

michael bloomberg said moves th

really can't recover from if that marathon goes forward. that's according to people we were speaking to. somebody said there's got to be somebody here in staten island that supports it. as we were driving i was yelling out the window what do you think about the marathon and all the people i spoke to -- had to be a couple dozen, they all said it is a horrendous idea to have the marathon right now. especially putting a starting line in staten island, wolf. >> not mincing any words at all. deborah feyerick on the scene for us. thank you. we just got a tweet from con edison, the power company in new york city. con edison says restored over 65,000 customers on the lower east side and east village areas of manhattan. that's the official con edison account retweeted by the new york city mayor's office as well. about almost 250,000 customers were without power in the lower part of manhattan. this is a good start. 65,000 customers lower east side, east village areas of lower manhattan are now getting

power at least according to this con edison tweet. we're about to hear from a cnn crew that accompanied a search and rescue team to a section of the new jersey coast that until now has been inaccessible. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose.

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they helped me put my whole life back together. caitlin's life is one of nearly a million changed by donations from people like you. send your love to the rescue. donate today. with so much death and destruction in sandy's path, some are now drawing comparisons between this superstorm and katrina. so just how do they measure up? cnn meteorologist severe weather expert chad myers is taking a closer look. he's joining us now. how do they measure up, chad? >> well, first of all, the storm surge with katrina was enormous. almost three times more of a wave or of a surge with katrina as bay st. louis was about 28 feet. manhattan island, downtown, the battery, had about 9.5 feet. haven't seen too many numbers higher than that. 9.5 feet moving into the city comparing to moving into the bay, obviously there's a town there and all the way do biloxi,

it's the population density in new york city that is going to -- and in new jersey and connecticut, that is going to put this way up in the record books. katrina, $145 billion in damage. andrew, this is cost for adjusted inflation $43.5 billion. and looks like somewhere sandy will fall somewhere between katrina and into andrew. so probably number two on the scale for dollar damage. now, when it comes to deaths, it's disturbing, wolf, to see and hear how quickly the fatality number in the u.s. is going up. you know, you expect it to tick up. it's jumping. katrina though 1,833, rita at 119, ike 112 and already past hugo and floyd. i know numbers don't mean much. it's the amount of devastation and how widespread it is. how many people -- estimate

about one to two million people were in the way of katrina. 60 million people have been affected somehow by sandy. >> you heard janet napolitano, the homeland security secretary say the area impacted by this was in her words the size of europe. that's a huge, huge area. >> no question. it was still only a category 1 when it made landfall. and at some point in katrina's life katrina was a category 5. 909 mill bars. it was a wide storm. the winds were 500 miles from one side to the other. above 45 to 50 miles per hour. and the damage is just so widespread. we had winds almost 90 miles per hour in massachusetts and 70 miles per hour down in parts of north carolina. that's literally the north and south scope of europe. >> chad myers giving us some perspective as he always does. appreciate it very much. we'll take a quick break. we're watching the devastation, the impact on what's going on.

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we're down to just four days until the 2012 presidential election. four days. president obama and mitt romney, they are campaigning nonstop. and thanks to cnn's vast resources, our crews are spread across the map to cover the candidates' final sprint to the election. we have reporters in the crucial battleground states that will decide the election. and multiple crews in the all-important state of ohio right now. amidst all of this, both presidential candidates were in ohio. and trying to spin the latest jobs numbers to their advantage.

the economy added 171,000 new jobs in october. that's more than analysts expected. also, revised figures from august and september show another 84,000 jobs were added more than first reported. those are the revised numbers. the unemployment rate is 7.9%. that's slightly higher than september's 7.8%. our chief business correspondent ali velshi is in toledo, ohio, in that battleground state, ali, what are they saying over there? how are these numbers likely to play out if at all on the campaign trail? >> reporter: well, you know, ohio's interesting. not only is it a tight race and one of the biggest prizes, but there's been a lot of early voting in ohio. so it's hard to find the independents in this state. but we have found a few of them. look, this sort of just reaffirms what you thought going into it. if you are an obama supporter leaning toward president obama, what this tells you is that we've got slow and steady growth. not as good as we'd like it to

be. 171,000 is a little better than 60% of what we really need for a strong growing economy. if you're a romney supporter, you're going to focus on the unemployment rate being 7.9% versus 7.8%. in the state of ohio there are a lot of things going on economically including shale gas, hydraulic fracturing or fracking as we call it. here in toledo there's a slow bubbling resurgence of the city that's right behind me, very slow. the jeep plant, i just spoke to a man here and it's resonating around here that mitt romney attack where he says president obama, sure, he may have bailed out the auto companies but did it to create jobs in china and suggesting that jeep is going to build vehicles in china, i've heard people say things like disgusting offensive. so that didn't play out all as well in some of these auto places like this in youngstown. bottom line, ohio like some of the big swing states has an unemployment rate lower than the national average. look at virginia and ohio. the question is who do you

credit for that? a republican governor or a democratic president? and that's the big question here. but it's probably a wash as to what the unemployment rate did for president obama, wolf. >> ali, there's breaking news we're following. we've just confirmed that the new york city mayor michael bloomberg has canceled the new york marathon for this weekend amidst all of the criticism earlier in the day. ali, he said it was going forward. he insisted it would not divert resources from the cleanup, from the disaster and the search and rescue operation. but now according to a statement just released, mayor bloomberg has decided at least to postpone, not completely cancel the marathon for this year. we're getting more information. you're very familiar with the uproar, ali, that's been going on. >> reporter: yes. >> earlier here in "the situation room," the borough president of manhattan, scott stringer, he told us he thinks it should be postponed. a lot of people were just furious at the mayor that he decided to keep it going using some of those badly needed generators in central park for

media tent and other purposes. this is the right decision, don't you think? >> reporter: well, you know, he said earlier, he said i remember rudy giuliani who was the mayor at the time telling him after 9/11 they went ahead with the marathon. and it's something that new yorkers need. it's a symbol of new york saying we're still here. we're going to move on. but there was more time between 9/11 and the new york city marathon. and all criticism all day to say how is it that you maintain this marathon when you need emergency services and generators and we've got all these people without it. look, good on mayor bloomberg for taking that criticism and having discussions and meetings and making a different decision. i think you could have swung both ways. a lot of people said new york carries on always no matter what. but sandy is turning out to be more devastating than people expected on monday. looks like they've made a sound decision, wolf. >> in a statement that they're putting out, they're making it clear that, yes, they cannot allow what was going onto continue. let me read the statement to you. i just got a copy of it, ali, i

want to read it to our viewers as well. this is the statement the mayor of new york, michael bloomberg, on the marathon "the marathon has been an sbree gal part, tens of thousands participate in and millions more watch. while not diverting resources from the recovery effort, it's clear it's become the source of controversy and decision. the marathon has always brought us together and inspired us with stories of courage and determination. we would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants, so we have decided to cancel it. we cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event, everyone one as meaningful as this, to distract attention away from all the critically important work that's being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track. he concludes by saying the new york road runners will have additional information in the days ahead or participants.

an official statement, ali, from the mayor of new york michael bloomberg. go ahead, ali. >> reporter: i live on the upper west side which is where the marathon ends. it's a remarkable event. people gather, it really does bring the city together. as you can tell from looking at me, i've got nothing to do with running, but you really do watch these people. it's a great event. but it's a lot of people that come to new york, a lot of hotel rooms being used by people who are displaced. a city still with transportation problems. new york has one of the largest police forces in the world, but those police are being used. those auxiliary police are being used for rescue efforts and to get people into areas of stability. you can really see how this would have been a great symbol for new york to say we're moving forward. but the practicality of life in new york is still difficult today. and we have bad weather coming later in the week. you can see where the pressure comes in to get this done and get new york fixed and up and running without having tens of thousands of people now putting

more pressure on the city. >> yeah. it wasn't just the generators in central park or manhattan, the upper west side which hasn't been really badly affected by all of this. >> right. >> but the bridge from staten island, that was going to be closed according to our own deborah feyerick, she's on staten island right now, for the entire day in both directions. >> right. >> and you need those transit areas to get badly needed equipment, generators, water, food, mobile shelters into staten island and into the lower part of manhattan as well where there's still a couple hundred thousand customers without power. so the appearance of going forward with this marathon was not becoming to new york. i guess that's the major concern the mayor had. >> reporter: and he didn't need to be involved in a controversy. nobody needs to be involved in a controversy. everybody's energy in new york right now needs to be spent getting new york back up and running, helping those families who have been displaced, those who have lost their loved ones.

i think it's a wise move to not have to defend the position. you can sit there and debate whether or not the net benefits of new york would have been greater to have the marathon, the spirit it would show, but the logistics really are a problem. and it would be the wrong side of the debate to be on now because all hands need to be on deck. it was a little curious. mayor bloomberg is very articulate. he really did lay out his argument for wanting to continue with this and that argument that new york doesn't get defeated. it's got a great history of always being there. in the end the controversy built and i think that made the decision for them as deborah feyerick reported just a little while ago, they had been in meetings all afternoon. a number of the groups involved in the rescue efforts in new york had been meeting despite the fact that mayor bloomberg said it was going to go ahead, they felt the wave of controversy coming on earlier and they decided let's talk about this. think this through. not only do we want to do this and drain resources, but do we want to wade into a controversy right now when in fact things have gone quite well in new york. they have tried to do this very well. new yorkers are responding well.

do we want to face the criticism that we went and held a marathon while there are still people without power, without heat on cold night and without places to live and ways to get to work including so many who have lost their lives. so in the end, wolf, probably a very smart decision to put this aside, move on. the marathon will be held another time. >> it's interesting, ali, it would used another time. we would not want a cloud to hang over the race or participants we have decided to cancel it. he didn't say postpone. deborah feyerick is on staten island. she's joining us. you were telling us earlier how angry people were without food and water and power and going ahead to start a marathon on staten island, it was a disaster unfolding as far as these folks were concerned. i assume they'll be pleased. >> the way they're going to look

at it probably, wolf, is the fact that resources they desperately need will now not be taken away from them. that first responders, that the new york police department, the fire department, all those people that are vital frankly to making sure the marathon runs and runs well that all those resources will in fact stay where the people of staten island believe it should be and that's in the streets with them. you have to remember, wolf, you've got police officers at almost every intersection who are simply trying to keep traffic moving. also, for the race to take place for the runners to go over that bridge, it means they would have to close that bridge really for most of the day. we're talking about trucks with food that can't get in. cleanup crews that can't get in. so there's a residual effect. and the people we spoke with,

their outrage was palpable, it was all directed at the mayor. and the mayor in their opinion was seen as insensitive, as callous, as really almost marginalizing them and isolating them and became, boy, we live on staten island and nobody cares about us. so the people who live here will feel if nothing else that the focus and priority is back where they believe it should be, wolf. >> as bad as the situation is, lower manhattan below 34th street, it's pretty awful as well according to the manhattan borough president scott stringer who joined us in the last hour. he says there are folks who simply don't have food, water, no power, and there are still parts devastated by this. and you go to long island and new jersey along the atlantic coast, the jersey shore, this is not a time clearly the mayor concluded after making an earlier decision, this is not

the right time to agonize so many people who are suffering right now. and as a result decided to cancel the new york marathon for this sunday. yeah, there will be thousands of runners disappointed, but they'll get over it pretty quickly. they'll move on. this is not a critically important issue right now. ali velshi is still -- you want to make another point, deb? >> reporter: the point i was going to make is, look, you do have a lot of runners. they train very hard for this race. i think the last poll we had was some 30,000 runners training for this race. but you have to put that in perspecti perspective. there are millions of people who have had their lives torn apart. so when the mayor says the city has to move on so give sort of a raw-raw feat in the middle of this tragedy, the scope is so huge that good samaritans are here, loaded up the backs of their cars, they are delivering clothing, they are delivering peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. they're really just trying to help folks who have lost

everything. wolf, it's incredible. in this section of staten island, there are piles of ruined goods in front of everybody's homes. they just had to simply throw everything out. when that's even going to be collected and the streets cleared up, that's a whole other issue, wolf. >> i agree completely. ali, i suspect that there are 30,000 or 40,000 runners getting ready to run in the new york marathon. many of them probably already in new york in hotels and elsewhere with friends. they're just getting word that the marathon has been canceled. i suspect, ali, knowing some of these runners, many of them are going to want to spend the weekend in new york anyhow and volunteer to help in the cleanup, the recovery. i'm just guessing along those lines. >> reporter: i think you could be right. i mean, they're there. there's a camaraderie among runners -- >> ali, hold on one second. i think the first lady of the united states is speaking about the storm right now. i want to hear what she's saying. >> -- who has been effected.

and as you've been seeing, barack has been working tirelessly with governors and mayors and our outstanding first responders to make sure that everything folks need is right there and they do their job. i know that we all will come together. because that's what we do in crisis. we come together to help our citizens. so even in light of all this excitement and election, we can't forget, you know, when people are struggling, we have to have our focus and our priorities straight, right? so with that, i have to also thank brandon for that introduction. brandon, oh, he is working so hard. he's going to be working on election day. and i hope you'll be right there with him. and i also want to thank the president, dr. miller and his wife -- >> all right. the first lady of the united states weighing in on the storm as well. the breaking news we've been following, the mayor of new york, michael bloomberg, has

canceled the new york marathon for this sunday saying we would not want a cloud to hang over the race or its participants. so we have decided to cancel it. we're standing by for a news conference from city hall in new york with much more on what's going on. a lot of other news we're following as well. remember, only four days until the presidential election. l wity that focused less on fees and more... on what matters? maybe your bank account is taking too much time and maybe it's costing too much money. introducing bluebird by american express and walmart. your alternative to checking and debit. it's loaded with features, not fees. because we think your money should stay where it belongs. with you. the value you expect. the service you deserve. it feels good to bluebird. get it at your local walmart. [ male announcer ] can a car be built around a state of mind? ♪ announcing the all-new 2013 malibu from chevrolet. ♪

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governor romney's here tonight with some stars of the republican party, local republicans think they'll have 35,000 people at that rally tonight. that's in the southwest corner of ohio. what they say is that both candidates right now are keeping their bases pretty strong. if you look at the cleveland area, the president runs strong. if you look across the industrial part of the northern part of the state, you see evidence the auto bailout is helping the president. down here in the cincinnati area, southwest ohio, governor romney is ahead in the polls. and that's significant. barack obama carried hamilton county, where i am, four years ago. if hamilton county is blue on election day, the president will win ohio and most likely be re-elected. at the moment the romney team thinks it can hold onto this state -- onto this part of the state. so it's just a feisty fight it all out intensity try to churn turnout. the romney campaign considers it a dead heat and believes it can make up the intensity on election day. >> candy, are you hearing echoes of 2000 when florida went for george w. bush by 537 votes? out of millions cast. >> i am. because you can't ever get that

out of your head because it was just such a surprise. i can tell you, you know, it's not whether i hear them, it's whether both these campaigns hear them. one of the things i was listening to james baker the other day who of course was the lead lawyer for the then-candidate bush in 2000 who said, look, none of us ever expected this would happen. we weren't ready for a recount when it suddenly was obvious they needed one. both sides have lawyers that have been studying sometimes automatic recounts in some states. they've been looking at all the voter laws in these swing states just for the possibility that this could happen in ohio or colorado or florida or, you know, any of the -- virginia, any of those other swing states. >> you're seeing evidence in ohio, john, of a lot of lawyers getting ready to get involved if necessary. >> reporter: and let's hope it doesn't happen. but they're watching this through the early voting

process. there are observers when you go to the early voting there are observers from both campaigns. both campaigns are trying to turn out the focus in this last weekend you can vote now because of the court decisions and the like you can vote now through monday. each campaign has a list of people who promised to vote early. if you haven't voted, they're calling you saying you promised to vote this morning, you didn't show up. do you need a ride? what can we do? they expect it could be close enough that, yes, as candy noted, some states have an automatic depending on the ballot of the vote, that's could have, would have, should have, but this is so close in so many battleground states, the legal teams are trying to study every last bit in case they need an advantage. >> candy, listen to robert gibbs, the advisor to the obama campaign, put his spin on the decision by mitt romney at this late stage this weekend to make a visit to pennsylvania. listen to this. >> i think it means that romn romney/ryan campaign i desperate to try to figure out

how to win this race. >> you think that's at all in the ballpark? pennsylvania, is that in play? >> let me tell you what the romney campaign says about this. they say, listen, it's interesting in the states we're now talking about pennsylvania, minnesota, wisconsin, those are democratic states. you notice they will tell you that we're not -- that no campaign is playing in states like arizona where they're republican states -- states expected to go republican. they will also tell you that, look, the votes that have been cast they believe so far, not many of them in pennsylvania, have been in favor of romney. and they say, listen, we have people where we need to have them in all of these swing states. everything else is funded. you can't go up on the air in ohio anymore because there's just no more space for tv ads. they have some money. they looked around. and they saw pennsylvania and saw minnesota, wisconsin, and that's where they decided to put their money.

they also note that the obama campaign has some folks going into pennsylvania. so is it a flier? it's a flier. they don't look at it as i'm desperate and looking at a way around ohio. mitt romney doesn't like to waste money, so we're not in there for nothing. but they kind of like it. do they think they're going to win there? i'm not sure. but they certainly think that it's worth playing there. >> candy will have much more sunday morning 9:00 a.m. on "state of the union." we'll be watching that, candy. john, thanks very much for joining us. both will be joining me here. we'll have a live cnn "the situation room" 6:00 p.m. eastern saturday night as well. lots going on. meanwhile, cnn is with national guard troops as they search homes in one storm-ravaged area. and the candidate's speech is in pieces all over the district. the writer's desktop and the coordinator's phone are working on a joke with local color. the secure cloud just received a revised intro from the strategist's tablet. and while i make my way into the venue, the candidate will be rehearsing off of his phone.

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the search for victims goes on. cnn's jim clancy is searching with u.s. national guard troops. >> reporter: a sometimes forceful systematic search for survivors. >> every time we clear the street -- >> reporter: dozens of members of the u.s. army and air force national guard joined members of the ocean county's prosecutor office to probe seemingly abandoned homes on long beach island's community. in distressed situation they forcibly opened homes to call out for survivors. the prosecutors are on hand because they have jurisdiction if any bodies are uncovered. but in most cases it was a straightforward call to ask if anyone was inside. >> national guard. this part of the mission is search and rescue. pretty much nobody has been here. so we've been trying to see if any residents that have stayed

over during the hurricane survived. that's basically what we're looking for here, any survivors. >> reporter: homes already ripped open by superstorm sandy were searched inside and out while these guard teams from new jersey kept a sharp look out for signs of life anywhere around a home trying to ensure no one would be overlooked. devastating waves broke on these beaches ripping away huge amounts of sand that was then carried across the island leaving two or three-story homes perched dangerously atop their now shallow piling. today some of those dunes are six feet high making road access impossible. not waiting for those roads to be cleared, the coast guard joined in this search and rescue mission carrying the search parties to the other end of the island. the work almost done, the search teams mark each house and each street with red tape to document which homes have been checked. they found some residents, but

none wanting to leave. like carl clark who road out the storm and still refuses to leave. but thinks it's a good idea to keep the island closed for now. >> that is a good thing in my opinion. you know, we have to restore this infrastructure. we can't have everybody back yet. i'll stay here. i'll look after our home. our neighbor's home, watch out for looting, you know, anybody that doesn't belong here. >> reporter: carl and the residents who are not on the island can rest assured that the 100 plus national guard troops marching through freshly piled sand drifts are also on the look out for everyone. now, when we look at the island tonight, we can see that there have been national guard troops -- and there are more than 100 of them stationed on the island right now. they've been fanning out in humvees. they're manning checkpoints. they're doing patrols. just to ensure there are no problems. there's no gas here, there's no

electricity here, there's no water here and there's no cable tv either. so there's not much reason for people to be here. still, some as you heard want to hold out a little bit longer. wolf, back to you. >> all right, out a little bit . wolf, back to you. >> jim clancy in new jersey where there is obviously destruction and devastation. thank you. the election is another challenge because of sandy, we have new details coming in. things are beginning to get rolling. and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together.

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amidst all of the devastation, there is now growin growing worries about being able

to vote. >> that's true, wolf, some polling places could have no power on election day, a few have disappeared all together, and now it looks like authorities in new jersey may have to get the national guard involved in helping people vote on tuesday. >> the state's hardest hit are the most likely to face the biggest challenges on election day. in new jersey, the lieutenant governor said there are some areas where the traditional poll willing place is gone, but voters should still report to the same location. >> there will be a truck, a national guardsman, and a sign that says vote here. >> the state of new jersey and new york say they're tweaking the rules to help voters including extending the deadline for absentee and mail in ballot.

so they're almost gaurn teed in the obama column regardless of the turn out. polls have the president ahead, but there is now reason to wonder whether effects of the storm could put it back in play. one question power outages in and arnold philadelphia could depress turn out. polling stations were add vieds to keep paper ballots in case there is not power. they had a few problems early ther week, especially in northern virginia. >> on monday we had no voting at all, tuesday we didn't get started until 10:00 in the morning, so we lag behind the 2008 number at this point, but we're sure this will be made up

late this week and this weekend. >> virginia officials don't expect any problems. they said turnout was ahead of 2008 until monday and is now back up to speed. there is no in person early voting, so power outages have no effect there. the deputy secretary of state says every polling place will have power restored well in advance of election day. and finally in the crucial state of ohio, the storm did not slow down the high turnout the state has seen throughout the early voting period. >> so woers case scenario, is there any way to postpone an election? congress has the power to set the date for federal elections, but some states have special rules for emergencies. new york, for example, can even postpone it's elections for up to 20 days. >> as of now we don't expect

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offers strategies that can help. happening now, hurricane took his home and looters took his livelihood. the growing fuel shortage in the disaster zone, people are waiting for hours. and with the presidential candidates on their sprint to election day and a new jobs report adding fuel to the fire. i'm wolf blitzer, and you're in

"the situation room." we begin with breaking news, the new york city marathon has been cancelled in the wake of the superstorm disaster. mayor michael bloomberg was insisting it needed to go on as a boost for his battered city, but it caused a huge backlash from storm victims and other new yorkers. he acknowledged the controversy saying it cannot be allowed to distract from recovery efforts. deb is on the hard hit staten island right now, deb, they're pretty angry when the mayor said he would not postpone or cancel the marathon, he reversed his course, i assume they're pleased he made that decision. >> yes, and this is not just a

reversal, it's a complete and total reversal. the backlash was extreme. people said any resources that were going to be diverted for the marathon should be brought here. it should be used to take volunteers here because these people need a lot of help. just driving along the streets you see people's homes, everything they own, the contents in piles and mountains in front of their homes. home that's have been completely shattered. and the bridge where the race would have begun, it would have cut off first responders and other resources from getting into the city quickly and the outrage was palpable. how horrible to begin a race two blocks from where two boys were

swept from their mom and drowned. they thought to go ahead with a marathon would be one of the most cold acts that could have happened and there was no justification or no amount of mind that could divert from the attention. they need hands, they need volunteers, they need first responders, and people to help them dig themselves out from this catastrophe that has struck so many neighborhoods. >> in a of your conversations, did you find any residents at all that were at least in part sympathetic to the mayor's earlier announcement that the marathon was going on? >> no, not at all, i opened the window as we were driving past, because i thought maybe were just talking to the wrong people, and i shouted what do you think about the marathon, virtually every single person said it was a horrible idea, a slap in the face, a disgrace,

and disgusting. the people really felt it was just a horrible thing and they also felt that one of the reasons the mayor was doing it, rightly or wrongly, was to appease some of the big backers and donors and not to help people who are not rich. that's what they were telling me. we don't have the money, so we're being ignored. the lights will go on in lower manhattan tomorrow, maybe, but not on staten island for a week. so what does that say? they felt isolated, marginalized, and i was at gr z breezy point where all of those homes burned down, and as bad and horrendous as that is out there, the treats of staten island is equally devastating, wolf. >> an awful situation for the folks, i'm sure they're beginning to feel like second class citizens, if you will, they must be pleased that the

mayor decided to back down. superstorm sandy was only the beginning of a series of hardships for so many of those that live in these hard hit areas. let's go to kate baldwin. >> yes, staten island was sure hard hit. they suffered not only a heavy loss of life, but a staggering loss of homes. for at least one man there, a loss of live lihood as well. the secretary of security said that borough is one of the hardest hit, what are you seeing there today? >> kate, the scene behind me tell it's all. look at this. this is the corner of cedar grove avenue and maple terrace. this home was levelled, houses are like this or in not much better condition. your hearing horrific stories from people in this neighborhood. here is a story of one man that

took a few hits. >> if you can't imagine what it's like to suffer through a massive storm, listen to nick. >> it was up to this part of the door, i could not get into the door. i went around the side of the house, and i stood on a box that was floating and i went through the window. >> taking us through his house, the retired ups truck driver say he and his family scrambled to an upper floor. >> we thought we would lose our lives. >> they survived. just about all of their first floor didn't. >> then just as nick and his family we rr covering from the storm and the flooding and trying to assess this damage, he took another blow. >> he goes to his side yard where he had a engine repair business. >> last night they were banging on doors, anybody home, anybody home, if we don't get a

response, we're going to break your down door to see if you're okay. they were all looters, i yelled out my window on a few occasions. i woke up this morning, they pushed my shed open and went through my tools and i have nothing. anything worth anything, all of my air tools, it's just air prints. >> could these have been people that you knew. >> it's sad to say it's neighborhood guys. >> they knew you, you knew them. >> yeah, i knew one of them. >> and the tenant next door says she lost another home to a fire two years ago. >> i can't even explain what did i do that the same thing happened to me twice. i just feel like why? >> a tenant, owner, his family left with so very little except -- >> my kids are alive, my wife is alive, we can move on.

>> reporter: nick says he came up with a slogan for the new business, it was if your engine is sick, call dr. nick, but he is not dr. nick now. >> and you have been talking to residents, what do they need most right now? >> that's a very good question. they need some form of heat. if people can bring in generators or something like that to help them heat their homes, tubs of hot water, things like that, that's what they need especially this time of night, the temperature drops here very drastically as soon as the sun goes down. right about now, the temperature is really dropping and they need some form of heat, that's hard to get in here, no electricity, of course, so these people are in a pretty bad way right now. >> a wait and see until the power gets back on. brian todd, fabulous reporting, thank you.

>> tough assignment, but he's doing a great job. a daunting task on new jersey's barrier islands as well. long beach battered by the winds and waves of hurricane sandy. the storm pushes tons of sands off of the beach and it is on the streets now. the new sand dunes are as high as four feet in some spots. gas, patience, and short supply, cars are lined up for miles and miles and hours of waiting. ♪ announcing the all-new 2013 malibu from chevrolet. ♪ with a remarkable new interior featuring the available chevrolet mylink infotainment system. this is where sophisticated styling begins. and where it ends? that's up to you. it's here -- the greatest malibu ever. ♪

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the latest? >> we have been in two different lines for much of the afternoon trying to see what it is like, what everyone else is experiencing being in line for hours to get gasoline. second of two lines. the first time we were in line for about 20 minutes and they ran out of gas. this is the second line and it's been more than two hours now and we just got word a little while ago they just ran out of gas too. so we're going to have to do what everyone else is trying to do and that is find a gas station that still has supplies, and it obviously is an all-day project. >> susan, it's not necessarily the shortage of gas that's the problem, it's something else causing all of these delays. >> that's right, it's a big problem trying to get the gasoline transported to all of these gas stations who are just waiting for that next shipment. they open the ports, they are trying to get it moving, but it takes awhile to get to all of

these places, some of the gas stations don't have power, so you have to drive around or get on the internet and find out which are the ones that currently have the gas supply. and so far, everyone in this line, has been very patient, they're waiting it out, when they get the bad news, you might think they'd be mad, but for the most part, everyone is taking it in stride, they're saying what can you do, they're saying we have to move on. we have not officially received word from this gas station about what the problem is. and there is still a big line of people behind me who don't know what we have been able to find out by running ahead. these people in front of us, now we're approaching the gas station, and the police department, they have a lot of presence here, they're telling people what's going on and they're saying they're not getting another supply or shipment until tomorrow. >> yeah, a lot of nasty moments while people are waiting for

gasoline. we have heard ugly reports, susan candiotti, we'll stay in touch with you. and touring staten island with officials, i talked to her and asked her about what's next and if the federal government could have been better prepared. >> it's a stuff situation, it's going to be tough until power is restored and gasoline becomes available, those things are related, it's going to be a cold weekend, nobody should be lacking for shelter, for food and water and for health care and all of the necessities of life as we work through the power situation. so, that's what's on our mind, it's life safety, it's public safety and recovery. >> there was a lot of warning about this storm, and there have been some complainting that there was not stuff, if you

will. presogsed on st prepositioned on staten island. did you have the proper shelters ready to go? >> yes, preposition, you have to remember that we didn't quite know where the storm was going to hit, and you don't want to preposition in an area that's going to be hit by the storm. so we picked an area right outside of the likely storm zone, and have been moving all of that material, food, and water into the affected area immediately so that, for example, into the manhattan, staten island, new york city area, a million meals, more than a million liters of water, and that's going to keep coming and be a steady flow. and in addition, of course, we work with our partners and the red cross, and with the national guard on distribution, so we were very well prepositions. >> but the stuff is just beginning to arrive today, is

that right? >> no. stuff began arriving on tuesday. but all of the centers and places of distribution were not established right away. they took a little time to get up and running and they're up and coming now, so now we're working through the storm, president obama said whatever resource we can give we need to give and lean forward and that's what we're trying to do. >> that's a huge, huge operation. not just for a few days, it will go on, and on, and on. >> people are in trouble and there's still more than 3 million people without power across the east coast. something not even close to being over. still ahead, the most anticipated jobs report of the year is out. president obama is talking about it, so is mitt romney. they're waging a fierce campaign battle in ohio.

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we're now just four days from the presidential election, if you needed a reminder. >> i don't need it, and the candidates are kris crossing in a whirlwind of campaigning. >> they're working very hard, let's go to ohio right now, it has 18 crucial electoral votes. president obama won in 2008, but

ohio went to george w. bush in 2004. obama was there today touting the new jobs report that showed stronger than expected hiring last month. but much of the focus was on a romney ad that he says is trying to care people. what is he saying, jessica? >> in three speeches here in ohio today, the president made brief mention of the new frob's report, and he talked extentatively about the auto bailout that he says saved jobs here and throughout the country. he mentioned that romney and he delivers his closing argument in a speech that david axle rod told us came from the president's loins. >> in ohio, the president saw the bright side of the new jobs numbers. >> this morning we learned that companies hired more workers in october than at any time in the

last eight months. the american auto industry is back on top. >> the president turned quickly from jobs numbers to the auto industry. >> we have been seeing this out of governor romney and his friends in the last few weeks. >> no mention of losses or an unemployment rate that upticked to 7.9%, but lots of time on a fight about the auto bailout and an ad for the romney campaign. >> you can't try to scare people, this is not a game, this is people's jobs and lives. >> obama took gm and crystler into bankruptcy and sold crystler to italians who will build jeeps in china. >> of course, it turns out, it's not true. the car companies themselves have told governor romney knock it off. knock it off. that's what they said.

>> the squabble over that spot made headlines here in hose. the obama campaign hit back on air -- >> gm calls romney's ads politics at it's cynical worst. >> on the stump, the president is casting it as part of a larger message. >> massaging the facts when they're inconvenient to your campaign. that's not changed, that's the oldest trick in the book and that's what he's been doing the last few weeks. and i know what real change looks like because i fought for it. right alongside him. and after all we have been through together, we sure can't give up now. >> now, wolf, the romney campaign was quick to hit back saying in part that the auto companies are expanding their production with jobs overseas, to be clear, they're not moving their jobs overseas, but they're adding new jobs overseas. they say that unemployment has risen since the president has been in office.

now, one maybe lighter note, wolf, i did mention that david ax axlerod saying the speeches are coming from the president's loins, and it has it's own twitter handle already. >> didn't take long, very cute. the president, in the last four days, it's going to get tough out there. >> it's almost over, i promise. mitt romney is also in ohio today, we'll catch up with his campaign and hear how he's using the job's report against president obama. at shell, we believe the world needs a broader mix of energies. that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

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and the battle today for ohio. >> absolutely, mitt romney has been there much of the day knowing that no machine has ever won the white house without winning ohio, and romney believes he has a new weapon in his arsenal. jim acosta is with the romney

campaign, jim? >> voters are getting a new sense of the contract their facing on election day after president obama called the lawsuitest jobs report clear progress, and romney is using them to make his case for real change. >> with a fired up republican crowd outside of milwaukee chanting four more days, mitt romney sliced into the numbers like a block of cheddar. >> unemployment is higher today than when barack obama took office. think of that. the question of this election comes down to this -- do you want more of the same, or do you want real change? >> gone was any sign of the hesitation romney showed in krit siding the president in the after math of. he warned a second obama term could bring about another

recession or worth. . over the final weekend before the election. rougherly 100 gop heavy hitter wills deliver that message in 11 battleground states. >> the broof of if it's working or not is what the price is that you're paying at the pump. romney will visit on sunday, and his campaign is playing is playing this add, playing. the president's surrogate, bill clinton is on his way there as well. >> essentially what president obama is saying, look at me, i work with the republicans, i worked with governor christie in new jersey. >> he promised bipartisan saying he will pass what he called the down payment on fiscal sanity act which will cut nondefense spending by 5%.

president obama says he has forgotten his mandate to become a post partisan leader. >> we asked them, and you, to look beyond the speeches, the attacks, and the ads, look to the record. >> romney is trying to pull out all of the stops before the election after kidrock played at his last event, and now he heads back east again for the final three days before the voter goes to the polls. wolf and kate? >> we also have new poll numbers from the critical battleground state of ohio. take a look at this, president obama has a narrow lead in this state, 50% to romney's 47%, that's within the sampling error making it essentially a dead heat. we have our political analysts here to join in. what stands out to you, gloria,

from this latest poll? >> i was looking at the gender numbers which i always do which is quite interesting. when you look at men and women, you'll see that mitt romney leads with 13 points, there it is, with men, and with women, the president leads by 16 points. so romney has to get his numbers up with men in order to be at pa parody with the president because this is a real problem. >> david, what stands out to you? >> to me, wolf, i informs ohio for a day earlier this week, and the polls all show that if you average them out, president obama maintains a slim lead, but what you hear on the ground is a sense of confidence that the evangelical vote will be like

2004 when it lifted george bush in ohio. and they think the absentee ballots will make a difference. so we're in a very tight race. i don't think anybody knows, and it's all going to depend on turn out now. >> ron, let's look ahead at the next few days, let's look at the itinerarie itineraries. colorado, ohio, pennsylvania, virginia, florida, wisconsin. obama's campaign, ohio, wisconsin, iowa, virginia, colorado, i feel like i'm repeating myself, what do they tell you? >> yes, and it's important to underscore how unusual this is, it is a firewall for a democrat. in the last 90 years, kate, only one democrat has run even one

point better than in ohio, so what you see in your poll today and in all of the polling in ohio, is in those critical midwest upper battlegrounds, i think ohio and wisconsin are the inner circle, they're running better among working class white voters there than anywhere else in the country. that explains the lead, the gender gap. some auto bailout been the bane story has more. we have two races going and the president is counting on different coalitions of each. >> gloria, what strikes you about the tone in the final days. >> the campaign is ending kind of the way it's been, which is, it's sort of -- this has not been a campaign of great vision, of great talk about the future, of what you want to do for the

country. this has been a campaign of negative adds, very polarized elect electorrate. what these candidates are doing are going out there, appealing to their bases, and the few independent voters left that are undecided. what strikes me is it's ending the day that it's been which is disappointing and uninspiring. >> we were told that the rhetoric was -- they drew back the rhetoric a little because of the storm, and then today, i even said it felt like it was pent up political rhetoric and it exploded. >> david was in ohio and i was in ohio and you really get the sense of the magnitude of the divide in this country. two coalitions that are different in their demography and are almost exactly equal in size. we're going to divide almost

exactly in half, and the challenge will be how do we build any working con census for change. >> i want to play this little clip of romney today. he is making a pretty dire prediction here, listen to this. >> the same path we're on means $20 trillion in debt in four years. it means crippling unemployment continues. it means sag nant talk home pay, depressed home values and a devastated military, unless we change course, we may be looking at another recession. >> what do you think, another recession? >> another recession is unlikely unless we go over the fiscal cliff and then it's extremely likely. he is trying to scare people here right at the end. what impressed me, wolf, is how much we have seen once again why being the incumbent to holding the election is a big advantage.

seven of the ten incumbents have won. and we saw with hurricane sandy, very unusual to have a storm this close to the election, but how well the president was able to use the office to do the right thing. and he got endorse from collin powell, an okay jobs report, it was a nice little lift. it's very concerning to conserve tufs that in the last three or four days he's gotten a lift, and they're worried that not only has romney stalled, but the president has a little momentum. >> do you think that helped? >> look, i think it's very hard to quantify, but when you see the president as the pastor and chief and the commander and chief all at once, arms around chris christie, et cetera, et cetera, it certainly doesn't hurt him, but mitt romney didn't misstep, he held his fire, he behaved properly.

people can criticize him for that, but in the end it only helps a view of the president. >> we have to leave it there, ron has a great new piece as well, thank you. a living nightmare for many residents on staten island as we have been talking about and we will talk about the greatest need, the government response and more with a local journalist there. the only time i've ever had a break is when i was on maternity leave. i have retired from doing this one thing that i loved. now, i'm going to be able to have the time to explore something different. it's like another chapter. i have a cold... i took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesn't work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine.

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clearly a very tough decision, for the first time in the history of the new york city marathon that started in 1970, the race is now cancelled. the marathon's director was brought to tears when she made

the official announcement at a news conference a few minutes ago. >> it is with incredibly heavy hearts today, tonight, that we feel the best way to help new york city at this time is to say that we will not be conducted the 2012 ing new york city marathon. >> a sad moment for her and all of the organizers and i'm sure for a lot of runners. all of the resources for the marathon including water and blankets will go to storm victims and there are websites popping up from runners that want to donate their hotel rooms to victims as well. at least 20 people have died in staten island when a massive storm surge suddenly came on shore. we have joined right now on

the phone, is it getting any better, is the calvary there yet, claire? >> yes, wolf. lots of response teams here today. fema, red cross, the government agencies, the cry for help was he heard. >> and i assume people are relieved that the marathon is now cancelled? >> yes, there was quite a lot of opposition to it. a big e-mail campaign, and i think staten islanders were concerned it would take the focus off of what was important right now which is recovery. janet napolitano spoke today and held a press conference, let me play a soundbite of what she said. >> we know that staten island took a particularly hard hit from sandy, so we want to make

sure that the right resources are brought here and as quickly as possible to help this community which is so very strong recover even more quickly. >> and one thing we have definitely been hearing from our reporters on the ground speaking to resident social security that the federal government had not reacted quick enough, that fema wasn't there and responding quick enough, do you think they were there quick enough to respond? >> i think there was a delay on staten island. we're one of the five boroughs of new york city. i think once the word got out about the unspeak about devastation here, the response came. and our residents themselves spoke up to the media and reached out for help. >> i think we're showing some pictures from your website, from your news right now, you

captured some really startling images of the devastation of the super storm. you have lived there all of your life, what has it been like for you, what are you seeing? >> staten island, even though it's part of new york city, it is really a borough of neighborhoods, and one of our headlines the other day was will staten island ever be the same? will life ever be the same? if feels like it won't be. some communities were wiped out, lived ruined, changed forever. i was walking around an area today just seeing people trying to get their lives back together and salvage any belongings, your heart goes out to them. >> claire, thank you so much, managing social editor, they have been doing potentially

prize winning reporting. erin burnett also monitoring the situation on staten island. what do we have at the top of your hour, give us a preview. >> we were out again today to see what was happening, red cross had started to come. there was great frustration about the marathon. we were at a hotel that was full of people who lost their homes, and the hotel owner said i can only give marathon runner as cot and they're very relieved about this news tonight and bittersweet for so many. we talked about neighborhoods in staten island where we found they were not getting the help they needed. yesterday today another neighborhood will be our guest, he informs that neighborhood, 50% of the people live below the poverty line. they have not gotten what they needed and he will tell us who they are and what they need. and when we were out covering the wreckage, we stumbled on a

story that i'm just so excited to share. it was a moment of joy. an entire family lost their home, everyone they knew lost their homes, and they went ahead with a wedding today. we have that for you. >> thanks, erin. for more information about sandy and what you can do to help those affected, check out cnn.com/impact. >> coming up in florida, we will look at a group that is overwhelmingly democratic. we're taking a closer look at florida's jewish voters. [ multiple sounds making melodic tune ] ♪ [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, every innovation, every solution, comes together for a single purpose -- to make the world a safer place. that's the value of performance.

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at 8:00 p.m. tuesday night,

all eyes will turn to florida. that's when the last polling stations close. we'll watch to see who wins the state's 29 electoral votes. president obama just barely captured florida in 2008 with 51% of the vote. george w. bush took 52% in 2004. he won by 537 votes though in 2000 over al gore after millions of votes were counted. so who wins this time could boil down to a block of voters who usually are reliablely democratic. let's go to john zarrella. >> you know, wolf, we are seeing a lot of tv ads in south florida. a lot of them, targeting jewish voters and that is something we have not seen before. not all the talk in florida this year revolves around the hispanic vote and how it will decide which way the state goes and it's not just about that stretch of asphalt between tampa

and daytona beach in central florida called the i-4 corridor, where all the swing voters live. some say for the first time in memory, the deciding factor in florida could well be a block of voters who have always been steadfast democrats. >> there's no way a democrat can win florida today without two things happening. one, a large turnout in the jewish vote and secondly, an overwhelming democratic vote in the community here in florida. >> romney backers are doing everything they can to peel away jewish voters, especially in south florida. there are television ads paid for the by the jewish coalition featuring democrats who have swished. >> i was a big obama supporter. had a fund-raiser in my home. believed in what he stood for. >> romney flirs are stuffed in mailboxes along the turnpike and on interstate 95, billboards

read quote, obama oy vey, had enough? >> brecken means to throw up and when i see these, i want to pull off the road and brecken. >> he supports president obama. he say the republicans are pandering and it's not going to work. >> the notion that the first thing all jewish voters look at is where a candidate stand on israel, that is making a certain narrow view of the jewish people that i find to be a, not true and b, it makes me angry. >> when i went to israel -- >> the obama campaign is taking the republican challenge seriously, firing back with an ad focused on israel. >> our bond with israel will be unbreakable. >> the ko chairman ofco-chairma called florida democrats for romney says it's absolutely not all about israel. >> i think we need to look at this as a business and put somebody in there that can run

this country and bring pack the jobs. >> four years ago, obama won 78% of the jewish vote. political scientists say the attacks could cost the president as much as 5% of that support. the quift of about 25,000 votes. in a close election, perhaps the difference, now, jewish people make up about 3.5% of the state's residents, but 8% of the voters. >> good report. thanks very much. >> join us and the entire cnn team for election night in america. our continuous live coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern tuesday night. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] nature exists on the grandest scale... ♪ ...and in the tiniest details. ♪

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one of the remnants of sandy is dangling high over new york city and crowds are lining up to see it. here's joan moos. >> there's a new addition to new york's skyline making it hard to resist looking up. >> that's insane. >> it's amazing it hasn't fallen down yet. >> seems to be just dangling in the wind. >> the crane was caught on camera during its partial collapse like a modern day sword hanging over manhattan's 57th street. it had newscasters riveted. >> they are afraid when that crane goes, it could be bouncing off of other buildings around here. >> destined to be the tallest residential building in new york city with $90 million penthou s

penthouses. police have closed off the streets below as engineers figure out when the weather makes it safe to strap the drooping boom to the building. cathy and her husband were in a hotel room. >> i was telling my mom i was safe and at that minute, i heard the crane go over. crunch. i said, honey, you've got to look out the window. >> they were evacuated to another hotel. donald trump has a view of the crane out his window. he's even with it and told cnbc it was left too upright. >> they didn't tie it down. >> they're not supposed to be tethered. >> somebody made a big mistake. >> it's conceivable it was just a strange gust of wind. >> that turned into a strange gale of notoriety. hurry